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National Research Council Calls for Climate Action

By John M. Broder May 19, 2010 10:27 amMay 19, 2010 10:27 am

In its most comprehensive study so far, the nation’s leading scientific body declared on Wednesday that climate change was a reality and was driven mostly by human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, issued three reports stating that there was an overwhelming case for a harmful human influence on the global climate and arguing for strong and immediate action to limit emissions of climate-altering gases in the United States and around the world.

One of the reports, “Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change,” urges the United States to set a greenhouse gas emissions “budget” that restricts overall emissions and provides a measurable goal for policy makers and for industry. The report does not recommend a specific target but says the range put forward by the Obama administration and Congress is a “reasonable goal.”

The report states that the most efficient way to reduce carbon dioxide pollution is to put a predictable and rising price on it, suggesting that a cap and trade system or a tax could provide that mechanism. It does not explicitly recommend cap and trade but says that such a system of tradeable emissions permits gives industry more flexibility in meeting an emissions target or budget.

Another in the series of reports, “Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change,” suggests that the United States and other nations begin planning for anticipated climate change impacts like rising sea levels and more severe storms and droughts. Boosting preparedness, the report states, can be viewed as “an insurance policy against and uncertain future,” while inaction could impose large costs on future generations.

“These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong,” Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a statement accompanying release of the reports. “But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond.”

The academy recommends that a single federal agency be given the authority and resources to coordinate national research and response. It notes that previous efforts have fallen short of providing the kind of action-oriented research needed by policy makers.

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